Talk:San Diego State University

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WikiProject Southern California
This article falls within the scope of WikiProject Southern California, a WikiProject interested in improving the encyclopedic coverage and content of articles relating to Southern California, its people, history, accomplishments and other topics. If you would like to help out, you are welcome to drop by the project page and/or leave a query at the project's talk page.
This article is also supported by WikiProject California.
B This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale.

Article Grading: The article has been rated for quality and/or importance but has no comments yet. If appropriate, please review the article and then leave comments here to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article and what work it will need.

This article is within the scope of the National Register of Historic Places WikiProject, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of listings on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

B This article has been rated as B-Class on the assessment scale.
A mortarboard This article is part of WikiProject Universities, an attempt to standardise coverage of universities and colleges. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this notice, or visit the project page, where you can join the project or contribute to the discussion.
B This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale.


Contents

[edit] Wikipedians

OK... I recently started the Wikipedians by alma mater: San Diego State University and I am hoping that other users will populate it. Streltzer 17:40, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

And you can now add this exciting userbox to your own page...

{{user NCAA-SDSUaztecs}}

So enjoy it! {GUEST} 3-2-06

[edit] SDSU Template

The new template added to this page needs to be populated with Wikipedia articles. The goal is to have pages for all of the major academic and research units for the university, without getting bogged down into the minor manners. This template was 'borrowed' from the UCSD template. Please help me get this right. Streltzer 01:09, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] SDSU Encyclopedia Article

Streltzer 00:19, 23 August 2005 (UTC) Updated this page to be a bit more current that what was on here before. This is one of the largest universities in the nation and it should have been better represented on Wikipedia. Anyway, it looks pretty good now. If anyone has a way to highlight some of the past SDSU accomplishments, that would be great to add. The SDSU Month website is a pretty good place to start searching for information. It would also be nice to see more research data placed in this article, especially about the San Diego State University Research Foundation.

[Guest] 31 August 2005 - Made some minor edits, and placed a new "history and important facts" section on-line.

[Guest] 11 November 2005 - Made some more edits, this type updating the page to be more current. I think I will try to get some pictures of the campus, including new underground SDSU Trolley Station, for posting here.

This is not an encyclopedic article. The thrust of the article is promotion. It's stuffed with every accomplishment or recognition the authors can gather. The prose is tilted like the marketing language of a standard school prospectus. But that makes it like any other Wikipedia school article: Not good. Lotsofissues 21:03, 19 November 2005 (UTC)

  • You make a great point. However, this article has gone through several revisions. The long narrative about the school's history and accomplishments has been deleted, but, you are right, the introduction to the university is still "marketing material" and not "encyclopedic." Any chance that we can collectively edit this to be more encyclopedic... probably not, since the persons who seem to edit this article are intimately interested in SDSU as alumni like me or are current SDSU students, professors, or community members, etc. How about someone from outside the SDSU community taking a shot at drafting a balanced article? In fact, isn't it the theory of Wikipedia that if an article loses its neutrality that someone (perhaps someone like Lotsofissues ) will then edit or revise the article to opposite viewpoint, with an eventual truce being called on further edits... thereby making the article an agreeable balance between opposing viewpoints? I hope that happens, and I look forward to further revisions to this article. Go Aztecs!!! Streltzer 17:59, 28 November 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Traditions

Come on now people, we need to come up with traditions that are worthy of inclusion in an encyclopedia article. Now I personally know Swinko, The Show, etc., and I think they are great guys, but how about including something about Monty and the dispute over the Aztecs/Monty Montezuma mascot? Now that is worthy of an encyclopedia article. Streltzer 20:09, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

That's true, and proof that SDSU should can Monty and get a new mascot. Monty's gotten old, which is good, but he hasn't aged well. Start a new tradition, change is good. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.212.152.223 (talk) 10:23, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Removal of self promotion/advertising/superflous images

There were two images in this article that were superflous...in other words, linking to the appropriate page (links have been retained) would have been sufficient to see them. Keep in mind there are practical reasons for this as well, since the article is already pretty long and adding images only mucks up the gears from a bandwith standpoint. I also took off some faculty from the "famous faculty" list. The criteria for this is simple, I think...the faculty member has to be noted/recognized/known for events or work OUTSIDE of the scope of San Diego State itself. For instance, being published in academic journals is universal to almost all tenured professors at an institution. This is not notable in the least. Being known for a particulalry exceptional or remarkable piece of work, on the other hand, qualifies the faculty member as "famous" or otherwise well-known. There were a few that I thought did not qualify, please see diffs for who those people are. This also applies to so called "renowned" institutions. A majority of large universities have their own presses and also their own literature department and again, the only reason for inclusion is if the institution in question can be noted for something other than its normal course of activity. That said, feel free to restore my deletions if you think they were removed in error and you have a good reason (that you can post here). Thanks. Go State! --IRelayer 21:25, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

  • I think it is appropriate to back in Khaleel Mohammed, PhD, SDSU professor of religious studies Link, as he certainly qualifies as having substantial notariety outside of the SDSU community (try a Google search of him to see what I mean). Any thoughts? Streltzer 00:07, 14 July 2006 (UTC)
  • I was iffy on that one...it seems fine though. --IRelayer 18:22, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
  • It looks like many of the English Dept. professors were put back into the "renowned faculty" list. I don't think that we have a consensus on this...until we do I suggest that we move them to the College of Arts & Letters page. Comments? Streltzer 18:05, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
No responses to my proposal...again, does anyone think that all of these English Dept. professors should be in this main article? Streltzer 17:57, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
I don't think the English professors should be included in the main page. From their pages, I don't see them as having done anything substantially important to warrant that position. Go ahead and move them to Arts and Letters. --D 19:32, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
Or perhaps it would also be better to split the notable alumni and faculty list to its own page and include a link from this page since the list is getting long and will only continue to increase in size. --Nehrams2020 19:42, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
Actually, that is not a bad plan...I have seen other university articles which have their "notable faculty" and "notable alumni" on seperate pages. I support doing that.Streltzer 01:44, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
How about this page {List of University of California, San Diego people} as a model? Streltzer 20:51, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Would "List of San Diego State University Alumni" work, following the same model? --Nehrams2020 21:12, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I moved it to List of San Diego State University alumni and faculty. The section looks like it should be expanded upon though, instead of just the link. --Nehrams2020 03:47, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
This is a great solution. I think to fill the space we should put **very** prominent alumni on the main page and the rest on the new page. Thoughts? --IRelayer 06:47, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
The seperate article looks great. My suggestion is to keep all "people" on that page and not clutter up the main article with that information. If we do that, then we probably will avoid the issue involving the English Department professors (see discussed at top of this thread)...right? Streltzer 18:02, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
Of course, we still don't have a consensus on the "notable faculty" issue...should there be some sort of standard or rule to apply for inclusion? Streltzer 18:25, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
I agree with IRelayer that we should at least list the most prominent alumni from each section on the list just so their is not just a link directing viewers to the list. This is comparable to other colleges who have a small paragraph on some of their alumni with a link. For the professors, I don't think that we have to mention them by name on this page, but we should still keep them on the list. There is plenty of room on the list, and if the professors already have articles on Wikipedia, there's really not too much of a reason to remove them. --Nehrams2020 18:33, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Largest California Universities

OK, is SDSU still the third-largest university in California? I look at the enrollment figures for UCLA, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, and SDSU and it appears to me that SDSU is now the fourth-largest university. Should we change this? Any thoughts? Streltzer 17:44, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Images & Pepsi

I am about to add mutliple pictures of campus that I took today. Some I will put in the gallery, several throughout the article, and some in the articles branching off of the main SDSU page. If the picture is not notable enough to be included, please discuss it here to remove it. Please request any other pictures that may be important to the page or its daughter pages, and I will attempt to get the picture(s). Also, this year SDSU switched their soft drink provider/sponsor from Coke to Pepsi. I have a picture of the sign stating "San Diego State University Welcomes Our New Official Beverage Sponsor (Pepsi)". Should this be mentioned anywhere in the article that the main beverage has been switched? I think Coke has been with the campus for many years, and now has been completely replaced by Pepsi. I won't add the picture unless we decide to make mention of its addition to the article. --Nehrams2020 23:31, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

My recommendation is to not include anything about the Coke/Pepsi switch, as it really has little long-term significance to the school or its programs. Streltzer 01:33, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
I agree with Streltzer on that --D 19:28, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
Well, I think any switches like this should be included. Like the testing room switch that they did for the Transfer Writing Assessment (TWA) back in 2003. There was no need for that, and a good guess is that it was more Black Chalks. So, you should include all the SDSU switches from the recent years. Like the Monty switch.--76.212.151.63 (talk) 16:40, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
I must say I agree with that. Switches should be chronicled. Just like the new mailers they use to send out your test results. Why, they use mailers like that to send out your TWA scores! Yes, they do! And that's why switches should be recorded. I don't like mailers, myself, I think they're wrong, but that's what they used. And, personally, I don't like Monty, so any switches there should be recorded. You're right.--76.244.162.189 (talk) 14:18, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Significant Rankings and Distinctions

This new section is extremely long, and was taken verbatim from the http://advancement.sdsu.edu/marcomm/news/sdsufacts.html webpage. I like the idea of it but can we compress it? It also lacks citation to its sources. Someone needs to invest a significant amount of time to handle these issues. Streltzer 20:42, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

  • I went ahead and replaced the content with a link to the official SDSU rankings and distinctions page. Streltzer 01:22, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] CLUBS

Any clubs in SDSU San Diego Campus? I've been looking for some on the main page. Why do you keep on deleting the title? Any good reasons Mchacon89 18:24, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:CSU.PNG

Image:CSU.PNG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 03:58, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fall 2007 Admissions

I deleted the following paragraph from the opening section:

  • For the 2007-2008 school year, San Diego State University received a record 57,167 undergraduate applications for admission -- a 9.3 percent increase from the year before, and highest of all CSU campuses. [1] In comparison, UCLA received 50,732 undergraduate applicants for fall 2007; USC: 34,000 for fall 2006; UCSD: 43,587 for fall 2006; and UC Berkeley: around 42,000 for fall 2006.

The author was right that SDSU's preliminary undergraduate application total for Fall 2007 was 57,167, but the accuracies stop there. That total, and the 9.3% increase, was for online applications only, which means that the "highest of all CSU campuses" title is questionable. Also, the numbers cited for UCLA, USC, UCSD, and UCB are for freshmen only and don't include transfer students, while SDSU's total does. I would have corrected the paragraph, but application statistics for Fall 2007 are hard to come by this time of year. --Foolishgrunt 05:18, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] rank on the Shanghai Jiao Tong University

According to this site [[1]] San Diego State is 301-400 on the top 500 world university rankings. Its the only CSU on the list, just thought that was noteworthy. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.121.247.116 (talk) 01:02, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Drug ring on campus, arrest and jail

I added the suspensions, incarceration, and 7 fraternities, death of 2, plus the seized objects. 19-year Jenny Poliakoff and another student, from Mesa College both died of cocaine overdose on May 2007 and on February 26, 2007, respectively. Those arrested included students in the campus's Homeland Security and Criminal Justice programs and members of the Theta Chi and Phi Kappa Psi fraternities. San Diego State University suspended 6 fraternities after drug investigation – dubbed Operation Sudden Fall – landed members in jail. 2 kilograms of cocaine were seized, with 350 Ecstasy pills, 50 pounds marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms, hash oil, methamphetamine, illicit prescription drugs, other drug paraphernalia, 3 guns and $ 60,000 in cash.origin.mercurynews.com, Six fraternities suspended in drug probe at San Diego State SDSU President Stephen Weber spoke at a news conference, while authorities identified 22 SDSU students as drug dealers who sold to undercover agents, and 17 others supplied the drugs. The rest of the suspects apparently bought or possessed illegal drugs. Authorities further found that students from 7 fraternities were involved in the drug ring, which operated openly across campus.signonsandiego.com, 5 are students; DEA took part in yearlong operationwww.fox6.com/news, Family of Dead SDSU Student Reacts to Campus Drug Bust --Florentino floro (talk) 09:59, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

  • Is this really relevant to the article? I would argue that it isn't, many students (just like people with jobs) get arrested for criminal activity that isn't related to their school. SDSU is not related to these arrests, except very tenuously in that Pres. Weber held a news conference to say that SDSU won't tolerate drugs on campus. Having it prominently in the article makes it seem like SDSU is the only school with this kind of issues. I vote for removal. maxsch (talk) 18:51, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
    • It's relevant because of the size of the operation and number of arrests. It's gotten a lot of attention in the national media as well. It may be worthwhile to give it it's own article ("Operation Sudden Down"), but until then, merits mention. OhNoitsJamie Talk 19:24, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
    • In my opinion, its RELEVANT - BUT PERHAPS SEPERATE ARTICLE. It is relevant, but perhaps it should be placed into a seperate article...just as the San Diego State University shooting is in a seperate article. Streltzer (talk) 01:49, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
    • I would believe this to be relevant, especially for its considerable size. I think it was good to split it off, and then maybe a few brief sentences on the main article. I may this summer work on expanding the history of the campus, and branch that off, so more focus on this event can be mentioned there. I'll do my best to try and get a picture of one of the fraternity houses in the next few days/weeks for inclusion on the branched off article. For now, I think it's sufficiently written as it appears now. --Nehrams2020 (talk) 02:00, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
      • I split it off into it's own article. I agree that a current event shouldn't consume a large percentage of such an article per WP:WEIGHT. However, as the largest operation of it's kind in San Diego County, it is notable. I included the fact that the community has a mixed reaction to it. Perhaps others can add more as the story unfolds. OhNoitsJamie Talk 03:55, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
        • This looks like a good solution. maxsch (talk) 04:39, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
          • Whatever way, this drug thing must be put into this article, for it is a big point for neutrality and balance of this article. In my experience here in Wikipedia (with my 3,500 edits now), I had come across attempts by the Vatican and Queen Beatrix, inter alia, to edit by using their own PCs, Wikipedia contributions that they do not want. But because of Wikipedia high tech devices or scanners, they were caught. Thus, I state with certainty that this negative international report (and landmark police or law enforcement big War on Drugs versus Illegal drug trade), is rarely seen in USA legal history. Parenthetically, Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, regarding the $ 2 billion since 1963 settlement for pedo priests, if read in conjunction with this article, would suffice it to say, that San Diego is a sin city, that may in the future be bestowed upon, a dire punishment, like Burma. I am not scaring, these students of earthquakes, but "Just Sayin" and stressing the importance of world attention to this evil of drugs, destroying lives on campus. - --Florentino floro (talk) 05:20, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
Sin city indeed! Let me get this right. So are you saying that the cyclone that killed tens of thousands in Burma was punishment for the sins...hmmm, of whom exactly? And that San Diego, with its vicious combination of drugs and pedophiles (note to CBS: why is there no CSI San Diego???) should expect a devastating earthquake? And that is why it is important to have this stuff in wikipedia? I'm glad I still have my sense of humor. maxsch (talk) 02:02, 14 May 2008 (UTC)